Category: Uncategorized
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Dorset’s Abbotsbury – Smugglers, Saints and Bouncing Bombs
The roller-coaster, coastal B3157 takes us from Dorset’s Bridport to Portesham, above the golden spit of shingle that is Chesil Beach. We drive through buttered stone Abbotsbury and on to our campsite at equally buttery Portesham Village, both gifted by Danish King Canute to his steward, Orc, in the 11th Century, evidence of how porous…
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The Pastoral Idyll of Rural Devon
We find ourselves on a bit of grandparent duty in Devon’s Exminster. But camping up in Crablake Farm is anything but a duty. Imagine rolling green hills; apple trees bent sideways; daffodils in lemon and gold. Just over the hill there’s the Exe Estuary in all its moods. We ramble along high-hedged lanes to Kenn,…
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Pocket Friendly ways to while away the time on the Euston Road and a traditional Italian Restaurant in Paddington
We always think of major cities as pocket heavy destinations. Euston Road bucks the trend. First there’s Gothic St. Pancras Station and hotel, which takes opulence to its extreme and is great for a drink, or to take in the poet, John Betjeman’s statue, or the giant soldier kissing his partner farewell. Free entry…
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Street Art, Street Food, An Independent Bookshop and the Driverless Ghost trains of the Postal Museum at Mount Pleasant
We double back on ourselves today so we’re whisked into Whitechapel again from Abbey Wood to hunt down Hanbury Street, which crosses Brick Lane, to trace the street art. Huge outdoor murals have us darting from one to the other. The most gripping for me being the close-up of a man’s sad face, lines like…
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A Detour to the Southbank and on to Spice heaven in Southall
From Little Venice’s watery world we’re disloyal to the Elizabeth Line and shoot along to the Embankment on the Bakerloo’s old rattle and shake. It’s that time of winter evening, too late for museums, too early for libations of the alcoholic kind, so it’s non-negotiable, the buzz of the Southbank is the place to be,…
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Mayfair Meanders and on to Little Venice
Off we trot from the Elizabeth Line’s Bond Street station through Mayfair to the Halcyon Gallery on New Bond Street. I must admit that the easy-going attitude of the Whitechapel Gallery is more my style. Halcyon’s walkie-talkie clad, black suited doormen are perfectly well-mannered, but the formality makes me feel like an intruder. It’s worth…
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Canary Wharf’s Sci-fi Skyline to Mayfair’s Church of Food
The Elizabeth line’s Canary Wharf is our destination, with its sci-fi obelisks, very 2001. Soon we’re walking in the cross-rail roof garden where glass and steel meet giant palms, fatsia japonica, spices, cocoa, banana and coffee bean trees. The roof garden sits on the Meridian between the west and east hemispheres and features plants from…
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Rambling from Liverpool Street to Farringdon
As we walk from Spitalfields to Farringdon we stumble across a reggae band playing at Bishopsgate, then as if that’s not fun enough there’s the Illumino – City’s installation with its magical flowers. Children run between them to press buttons which play a tune reminiscent of an experimental jazz band. As we pass Liverpool Street…
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A Three-day Jaunt Tracing London’s Iconic Elizabeth Line – Whitechapel and Spitalfields
As my chauffeur eases the van between the over-hanging trees down the hill to Abbey Wood campsite, our excitement fizzes like Champagne in a flute. As two Londoners and now happy West Sussex denizens we still get that Champagne fizz when we return as tourists to the city of our birth. No sooner have we…
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From Veliko Tarnovo’s Historical Sights to the Rural Peace of Dimcha – The end of our Personal Pilgrimage
One ticket to Veliko Tarnovo’s historical sites lasts for two days. We spend a good portion of that time wandering round in circles searching for them. The Museum of the Bulgarian Revival is a gloriously colourful blue and white building. It is where the Bulgarian Constitution was negotiated by a multitude of representatives at the…
Campervan Therapy 